Posted by cool_ambo on July 31st, 2011 | Comments Off on The Eleventh Hour

Don’t look now, but the United States of America is at its eleventh hour to increase its debt limit. The Senate did not pass the bill favoring an increase of the debt to $2.7 trillion while decreasing the spending by $2.2 trillion.

U.S. President Barack Obama

If the U.S. government defaults on its deficit payments , chances are the

Posted by cool_ambo on July 28th, 2011 | Comments Off on Social Insurance Contributions….

The SSS is a social security insurance agency.

So is the GSIS.

These are supposed to accept cash contributions from people who are employed by witholding a portion of their wages. These contributions are channeled thru the employers who then remit these amounts the the secial security insurance outfits. There comes the problem when the employer fails to remit these contributions to the insurance outfit. The contributors will not be able to avail of the benefits from the insurance company.

It should be remembered that these social security insurance agencies are, by definition, insurance companies and as such will therefore invest the contributors’ money and thereafter return them in full at a predetermined time with interest. So the employer should pay interest for the time money is witheld.

If the employer fails to remit these contributions on time then they are breaking the law and are therefore liable for court action. If the employer happens to be a municipality or a city, then actions aginst this employer should be done thru the local government, specifically thru the Department of Local Government.

As of now, GSIS have no teeth to penalize erring local government entities but the DILG has. Offhand I would say, garnish some wages or wage portions of the employers/employees.***

I would blame also the GSIS for sitting on their haunches and waiting for things to happen by holding back its services to the public.

The GSIS should be able to communicate with the local government Treasurers, no? After all, it is the local government Treasurers that affect any transfer of money.

Posted by cool_ambo on July 27th, 2011 | Comments Off on Again I Say….

Again I say….

The investigation of then Dimple Star bus accident on the Skyway, similar to some other accident investigations, must be generating more questions than answers,….. again.

I say again that the bulk of the accidents in the country are not caused by loss of brakes as is the general conclusion of both investigators and drivers. They are caused by the worn out tires being used.

The pavement was wet with rain and the bus’ tires were worn out pretty well, notwithstanding the fact that no bus company in the country ever equip their busses with special rainy season tires, so the bus was not equipped with anti-hydroplane tires.

And then again busses are not aerodynamically designed so the result is that there is a lift on the front of the bus and the front wheel steering mechanism is not effective. This is particularly true when the bus exceeds the speed limits.

Therefore what happened was that the worn out tires caused hydroplaning and the square front of the bus caused further lift on the bus. As a result, the driver lost steering control of the bus and it would have swayed right or left. It so happened that it went left, so there.

Blame also maintenance people for this. New tires come with specifications for depth of tread wear. These are measured with a tire wear gauge. Furthermore, there are nodes on the tires to signify emergency replacements already. When these nodes become visible thru wea,r the responsibility for any accident shifts from the manufacturer to the user.